Evolution or Revolution / Realist or Idealist - Essay Example

An Ideal Political and Economic World Scenario.  Current Political and Economical World Scenario:       Democracy preferred over other Political theory/ Philosophy:     Democracy can be referred as a system of governance, where people supposedly have a say in every state of affairs. Under democracy, the government is said to be for the people, of the people and by the people. Equality and Freedom are considered as the two pillars of democracy. Democratic states are widely classified into two types.

One is Direct Democracy, where people are empowered to govern by themselves. Another is Indirect Democracy, where people elect their representatives, empowered by the people to govern. (Christiano 2002, Estlund, 2002) Socialism as an economic system/ philosophy is supposed to be closer to Democracy. Socialism as a political philosophy is also widely accepted by many nations throughout the world, most of which are successful democracies, for example: India, Brazil, Argentina, etc. However, it should be mentioned that each of them has their own interpretation and degree of belief in Socialism.

The people themselves or the state originally refers to socialism as a political philosophy, which advocates control of all the means of production, resources and distribution of products to be controlled. However, as time passed by and capitalism as an economic philosophy gained more ground, Socialism as a philosophy also changed accordingly. Today, democratic Socialism as a new political and economic philosophy has gained much acceptance.  (Busky 2000)  Mixed Economy preferred over other Economic theory/ PhilosophyIn context of the Economic structure and philosophy followed by various nation-states it can be clearly seen that even the self professed Capitalist nations follows a “Mixed Economy”.

Mixed economy has gained wide acceptance from various nation states. In this kind of economy elements of both socialism and capitalism coexist. In certain areas like control of Natural Resources, Education, defense and few other major areas the Government have complete control. Whereas, in other more general areas, which are more influenced by the demand and supply dynamics, like consumer good/durable goods industries and other similar industries, government have no/less control.  Thus, the coexistence of both the capitalist and socialist elements in the economy not only balances the ill effect of each of them, but also helps the economy to sustain any economic unpredictability to a great extent.

(Ikeda 1997)Mixed economy may be a system comprising elements of both “Planned Economy” and “Market Economy”. On one side few of the areas and industries are controlled by the government, on the other side, some of the areas and industries are based totally on the “Demand and Supply” dynamics. Thus, in mixed economy two opposing forces work together to maintain a balance. (Ikeda 1997) An Ideal Political And Economical World Scenario:Before concluding about a supposedly Ideal Political and Economic Scenario, it would be imperative to discuss few of the contradictions in the current world scenario.

A study conducted in 19 nations, by the WorldPublicOpinion.org (WPO) released on May 13, 2008, it was found that an overwhelming majority of people supports the philosophy of democracy. Around 85 percent of the people agree that the authority of the government should be based on the “Will of the people” as a whole, with 52percent of the people agreeing strongly to the same. However, in sharp contrast to people’s view it was found that a mean level of only 4.5 (On a scale 0-10) perceives that their government governs according to their will while the remaining 5.

5 perceive just the opposite. Among all the people surveyed it was found that most of them have less trust on their government regarding taking the right decisions. When asked about the trust of the people on the decisions taken by the government, 48percent were found to trust the government only for some decisions and 32percent found to trust the government in every decision, the rest holding two extreme opinions. Thus it can be said that even within various countries where democratically elected government exists, people are not satisfied about their active participation.

  (World Public Opinion on Government and Democracy, 2008)In the light of all these findings it can be said that just like human being no political or economic system is 100percent perfect/ ideal. However, as a tool for benchmarking, discussing an ideal Political and Economical world scenario would be worthwhile. An ideal Political Scenario may consist of Democratic Socialism. The essence of such political philosophy would be a state where people work cooperatively towards a common and mutually beneficial goal.

In this ideal state, the people would elect the government fairly through democratic means. The government on the other hand would follow the common will of the people while taking any decision. Moreover, before taking any major decision the government in such ideal state should take an opinion poll from the people to gauge the common will of the people. A constant system of two way communication and feedback should also be placed between the people and government to discuss the best possible decisions.

  Regarding an ideal Economic scenario, countries would reap benefits if they follow the existing mixed system in a better way. As discussed previously the mixed system works better. The peaceful coexistence of the elements of both the socialism and capitalism helps an economy to accommodate the positive elements of both the economic system and offsetting the negative influence of each of them. (Busky 2000)              References:1. Christiano, T. (2002). Democracy as Equality.

In David Estlund (Ed.) Democracy. (pp 31-49) Massachusetts, USA. Blackwell publishers Ltd. Available at:  [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=G66FdwuvQh4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=democracy#v=onepage&q=&f=false] (Accessed on: 12/10/2009.). 2. Estlund, D. (2002), Democracy, Blackwell Publishers, Massachcetes, USA. Available at:  [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=G66FdwuvQh4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false] (Accessed on: 12/10/2009.). 3. Ikeda, S. 1997.

Dynamics of the Mixed economy. London, England, Routledge. Available at:  [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=YFDyZF1F0PYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=true] (Accessed on: 12/10/2009.). 4. World Public Opinion on Government and Democracy, pdf file, 2008. University of Maryland. Available at {HYPERLINK : http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/may08/WPO_Governance_May08_packet.pdf} 5. Questia, Socialism, http://www.questia.com/library/politics-and-government/systems-of-government/socialism.jsp 6. Busky, Donald F. (2000) Democratic Socialism: Aglobal SurveyUSA, Praeger Publishers.

Available at:  [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=3joQKjDtn4wC&pg=PP1&dq=democratic+socialism#v=onepage&q=&f=true] (Acessed on: 12/10/2009)